a story lives forever
Register
Sign in
Form submission failed!

Stay signed in

Recover your password?
Register
Form submission failed!

Web of Stories Ltd would like to keep you informed about our products and services.

Please tick here if you would like us to keep you informed about our products and services.

I have read and accepted the Terms & Conditions.

Please note: Your email and any private information provided at registration will not be passed on to other individuals or organisations without your specific approval.

Video URL

You must be registered to use this feature. Sign in or register.

NEXT STORY

The festival of Turkish food

RELATED STORIES

Turkish artisans
Claudia Roden Writer
Comments (0) Please sign in or register to add comments

The mezzes were another story. They were dishes that were really developed in meyhanes, which were really bars, taverns rather. Which were opened originally by Christians. But after the empire and Turkey became a republic, they were taken over by Muslims who were secular. Were allowed to drink because Kemal Atatürk had made the country secular. But even before that they also drank, so we hear, during the Ottoman times. But for me, what made the trip absolutely fantastic then, and forever really, forever my knowledge of Turkey, was that I had asked to see all kinds of artisans, people who made milk puddings. You had to go at five o'clock in the morning when the milk arrived from the cows. And you had to watch them making it. People who made pastries. I went to specialists who were making their own phyllo and made their kadaifi and made the pastries. But also, people who made Turkish delight. I really saw a lot of that.

Claudia Roden (b. 1936) is an Egyptian-born British cookbook writer and cultural anthropologist of Sephardi/Mizrahi descent. She is best known as the author of Middle Eastern cookbooks including A Book of Middle Eastern Food, The New Book of Middle Eastern Food and The Book of Jewish Food.

Listeners: Nelly Wolman

Claudia Roden talking to her granddaughter Nelly Wolman about her life in food.

Tags: Turkey

Duration: 1 minute, 44 seconds

Date story recorded: September 2022

Date story went live: 04 December 2023